Clay Repairs

As plaster artisans, our love for materials advances and receeds like a salty summer tide. Recently, I visited a house I plastered in 2009 with American Clay to make some touch-up repairs. The view from the office wasn't that bad, as it was nestled in the wet earthy forests of the San Juan Islands.

I've made a couple post-construction repair visits and I knew that there were some vulnerable areas. Outside surface edges are always the ones to take the brunt of use. We can't always clad metal or wainscott everything, nor do we want to.  For homes, consider selecting a material which is easy to repair. Clay is softer than it's sibling, lime and it exudes a warm feel and sheen like no other.

 

So I grabbed my project repair tool-kit and that's when the magic happened!

"Lake bedroom...sample check!" "Main Area", etc. I rubbed the dried clay pieces together I had saved, added a bit of water to re-hydrate, and POOF! the material and the wall were waiting for my touch again. Rubbing and re-hydrating clay is like re-kindling a creative fire! I sensed my ancestry for a few moments...before caves were "homes". Pretty soon, all nicks had been infilled and repaired and the walls sang to me again like the lake swallows above...

I've been applying American Clay since 2005 and have developed my own techniques for repairs. Here are a few to help! Don't be afraid to repair your walls. Dive right in!

• Embrace Wabi Sabi:
  “Wabi-sabi is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.” - Leonard Koren
• Keep good record of your materials, save, and label them!
• Love texture! The rougher, more skip-troweled the surface the easier it is to hide the repair.
• Tools: angled sponges, plastic painters knives; plastic trowel, wax paper for re-shaping edges, spray bottle

Now a word about dusting. Dusting occurs when...

• Surface is not compressed. Wall feels "loose" all over (Solution: COMPRESS!!). Anyone who has taken my campclay class knows how important this step is!
• Due to impact which causes previously compressed material to open up. This occurs from impact/abrasion to the wall.  (Solution: All you need is a simple patch and blend here!)
• Residual post-compression dusting: (Solution: Dry-brush compressed surface. If dust is still present, try re-wetting surface with a 30/70 sealer/water solution and lightly compress it with a plastic trowel.

..And some helpful links!
Camp Clay DIY Classes www.campclay.com   

Great video on the importance of compression! http://www.youtube.com/user/americanclayvideos/#p/u/0/od_6HdYPIUQ

To Seal or Not to Seal? http://www.youtube.com/user/americanclayvideos/#p/u/4/7Q71brFAxoc 

Repairing Nail Holes http://www.youtube.com/user/americanclayvideos/#p/u/5/KS_2JTcMIJ4         

"Beauty can spontaneously occur at any moment given the proper circumstances, context, or point of view. Beauty is thus an altered state of consciousness, an extraordinary moment of poetry and grace.” - Leonard Koren from "Wabi-Sabi: For Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers"

 

 

Clay On! - Sherri